Traditional barrier systems found in the prior art used for reinforcing a portion of a structural member having an open center have included a metal or rigid barrier member placed within the open center. In many instances, the structural nature of the barrier member limited the applications for which the barrier system could be used. For instance, the structure and location of the member being reinforced made it difficult to insert a barrier member therein after the structural member had been incorporated into a frame system, such as automobile frame or rail. For example, once an automobile has been completed or partially assembled, the insertion of a barrier member into the center portion of a cavity of a structural member is often difficult and time consuming. Thus, there is needed a system and method that will permit local reinforcement of a structure at various stages throughout the manufacturing or assembly process concerning the member being reinforced.
In addition, the prior art further employs a number of pumpable products or techniques for the placement of a reinforcing material within the selected structural member. Although this pumpable technology work well and is advantageous in many applications, the use of pumpable products in a manufacturing environment often creates additional maintenance and clean-up issues as well as inadvertent and unwanted placement or leakage of the pumpable products into undesirable areas of the structural member or the surrounding environment. Further, many structural members found in the automotive, aerospace, marine, appliance, and furniture industries require the physical presence of tooling holes, clips, push-pins, and other mechanical hardware or displacements formed within or on the structural member itself. Generally speaking, these holes, clips, push-pins, and other mechanical assemblies are needed for use in later steps of the manufacturing process. When the prior art pumpable products are introduced to such structural members, access to these holes, hardware, or displacements can become obstructed or blocked thereby causing disruptions to the manufacturing process which may also require the manual removal of unwanted material or deposits. Although prior techniques used to prevent such obstructions or blockages include physical masking of the holes, hardware, or displacements with tapes and other materials, the application and removal of masking techniques increase the complexity and length of the manufacturing process, create the potential that masking materials are inadvertently left on the structural member, and give rise to additional maintenance and clean-up issues in the manufacturing environment.
The present invention obviates and overcomes the drawbacks found in the prior art by providing a barrier and bladder system having at least one compartmentalized barrier or chamber that is formed to fit within the contours of an inner portion of the chosen structural member upon insertion into the structural member. The compartmentalized barrier or chamber may comprise a plurality of barriers or chambers which can be solid (i.e. a box-like insert), rigid, or may be a flexible or inflatable chamber having a variety of expansion volumes. The plurality of barriers or chambers of the present invention have an inner portion suitable and are suitable and capable of receiving a variety of materials, which may or may not be expandable or heat-activatable, that are pumped, placed, extruded, retained, or otherwise disposed within the barrier or chamber for structural reinforcement, damping, and/or sealing of the member without allowing unwanted spillage or leakage of the material to portions of the structural member such as tooling holes and other hardware needed in the manufacturing process.